1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a method and apparatus for dispensing a carbonated beverage, in which the beverage is circulated through a loop.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior methods and apparatus for dispensing of carbonated beverage is referred to as a "soda circuit" or "remote dispensing system". The idea is to provide a carbonation and refrigeration module connected by a long length of thermally insulated tubing to a remote dispensing head. The carbonation and refrigeration module or components are typically in the back room, basement, attic, supply or utility room. The dispensing head will be on a retail bar and be exposed to customers, in a kitchen, or in some place of access convenient to retail customers. Typically, the refrigeration and dispensing head may be anywhere from 10 feet (3 m) to 300 feet (90 m) apart from one another and may be separated on different levels of a building floor. Thermally insulated tubing connects the carbonation and refrigeration to the dispensing head. The tubing is typically built into floors and walls and snakes around and through the structure of the building.
A water circulation pump has been provided for circulating refrigerated water or either flat cooling water from an ice bank or else the actual carbonated water, through the insulated tubing. The refrigerated water is circulated from the refrigeration module to the dispensing head and back to the module. The circulating water cools the circulation tubing and the beverage concentrate in tubing adjacent to the water tubing, and the dispensing head and dispensing valves in the head.
A tremendous amount of development has been done on solving the problems of dispensing a cold drink, providing high and accurate levels of carbonation, preventing foaming or breakout of carbonation and running long distances when separate refrigeration modules and dispensing heads are utilized. Ingenious, diverse and effective solutions have been developed for these problems, and "soda circuits" and/or remote beverage refrigeration systems are in widespread use, particularly in fast food retailing stores.
The state-of-the-art soda circuit has a carbonator with a storage reservoir under gas pressure, a refrigeration module, a circulation conduit extending through the refrigeration module and with a delivery line and a return line, a pump between the return line and the delivery line circulates water and the carbonator is connected to deliver beverage through the delivery line to dispensing valves numbering anywhere from three to six or even more, connected to the delivery line.
The problems are dispensing capacity, and quality of water to concentrate ratio.
Typically, only two dispensing valves can be operated concurrently. Pressure drop from flow reduces the water flow rates out of dispensing valves and the drinks become too rich, having too much concentrate in respect to water.
One solution to the capacity problem is to go to larger tubing; but this increases costs, cooling requirements, energy consumption, and the thermal efficiency of the apparatus decreases.
Fast food retail locations now want to connect ten or more dispensing valves into a soda circuit and to be able to use five or more dispensing valves at one time, i.e. concurrently. They also want proper proportioning of water to concentrate. They want the dispensing rate of each valve in the increased number of valves doubled over the existing dispensing apparatus. Specifically, present individual dispensing valves have a total flow capacity of 1.5 oz./sec. (44 cm.sup.3 /sec.) and retailers want this increased to 3.0 oz./sec. (88 cm.sup.3 /sec.).